Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1887-04-16

According to the statement given at the
treasury department about 100000 trade
dollars will probably be redeemed. 1t is pos
Sible to estimate what this amount of silver
means. Surprising the trade dollar to be Of
the same weight as the standard dollar-and
it weighs, as l h.t7e stated, seven and half
grains more-30, 0O0, 900 would weigh 500 tons,
md as a ton is a good load for two horse
team it would take 1000 horses to haul them
The actuary of the treasury, the man who
does much of the big figuring for the govern
ment estimates the weight of 100000 stand
ard dollars at twenty-siX and three-quarter
tons of 2240 pounds avoirdupois each. He
snys 100000 in gold weighs one and two
third tons, and 81 100000 in nickels weighs
100 TONS
This immense amount of money will neces-
state the building of a new treasury vault, as
the old ones are now filed with silver. l
visited them this afternoon. All but one are
lacked to their utmost. There is room for
about S6,000,000 more. The treasury has re-
ccived 100000 within the last three
months, and it averages now s., 900, 900 a
week, or nearly 100000 a day. The only
vault left is one that is set aside for
subsidiary coinage. This has been given
up to standard silver dollars, the subsidiary
silver being packed in one end, and there is
now about S2O, 900, 900 in it. stood within it
to-day and watched them pack the silver,
pile upon pile. The silver is kept in bags of
White linen duck Thau ssryOuG Une
size OF schooIDoy's sachel, and each one
holds Just 1000 silver dollars. They are tied
with strings at the top, and each bag weighs
sixty pounds. The letters ~. s." are stamped
in black on the bags, which are weighed when
they come in, and the bags are counted again
and again as they are put away. The piling
of these bags is as careful work as the most
scientific masonry. They have to be piled up
very sSillfully, as the silver moves about very
much, and they would otherwise break out
the iron and stone walls Of the vault. Even
as it is the silver is continually moving about
in the bags, and you may hear it creak and
chnk as the dollars move this way and that
ut the change of pressure. This creaking
goes on continually, even after the vaults are
full
These bags are so piled that they overlap
each other, and l give you here a sketch
showing how these tons of silver dollars are
packed away. The sketch is from the
subsidiary silver vault. This vault is about
sixteen 10y twenty feet in size, or as large as a
good sized city parlor 1t is divided into
compartments by iron lattice work, and the
pressure against this lattice work is so strong
hat one compartment cannot be filled
aefore the other. AS it is, these bags can
only be piled thirty tiers high, and they do
not reach to the ceiling by several feet If
they were piled higher they would burst
the steel walls of the vault, and when you re-
member that these walls are six inches thick,
you can appreciate the immense pressure.
Now a load of silver is brought in to be
piled away. The bags are packed on a little
cart which does not look any bigger than
Boys play wagon, but which contains $25, 900
in twenty-five white canvas bags. That
little wagon is carrying 1900 pounds of
silver. 1t is hauled right into the vault and
two colored laborers deftly pack the bags
away, and as the men work the money clinks
with music that would delight any miser
These piles are almost as compact as though
~ were of solid silver
The great bullion vault, however, is down |
below this in the basement. Entering an |